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<DIV>Dear Colleague: It may be of help for you to know that my organization,
World Learning, sponsored a conference in Guatemala City a few years
ago addressing the topic of indigenous education in the Americas. We
invited 700 (mostly) indigenous educators from throughout the Americas
(Canada to the tip of Chile) to discuss issues of early bilingual education.
Much to the participants' surprise, they found, of
course, that they had similar questions, faced similar
challenges, and often were seeking similar solutions.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Selected proceedings from this conference are written up in
the SIT Occasional Paper Series, Winter 2003, titled "La Educacion Indigena
en las Americas" (Indigenous Education in the Americas), a Spanish Edition
with English translations of all abstracts and some other materials. To
access this journal online, go to <A href="http://www.sit.edu/publications">
www.sit.edu/publications</A>, and click on Issue No. 4.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I hope this will be of some help to you. With best wishes,</DIV>
<DIV>Alvino Fantini</DIV>
<DIV>Professor Emeritus, School for International Training</DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Dr Alvino E. Fantini, Professor Emeritus, SIT</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Professor, Graduate School, MA in Language
Communication</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Kenkyu Research Center Bldg No. 1, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Matsuyama University, </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 ze="2">4-2 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime
790-85, Japan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Office tel: 089 926 7548 (Ext 42 / Cell tel: 080 5660
3640</FONT></DIV><BR>
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BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: Yvan Rose <yrose@mun.ca><BR>To:
info-childes@mail.talkbank.org<BR>Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:00:09 -0230<BR>
Subject: Bilingualism and bilingual education in Aboriginal communities<BR>
<BR>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: monospace, courier new, courier">Dear
colleagues,<BR>I was recently contacted by the school board of a Canadian
Aboriginal <BR>community. They requested me to provide them with
information on <BR>bilingualism and bilingual acquisition in an
Aboriginal context. They <BR>would like to consider such information
for the structuring of their <BR>educational programs in the
communities under that school board's <BR>umbrella.<BR><BR>Here is
some more background information:<BR>--The children from these communities
are typically raised <BR>monolingual in the Aboriginal language,
unless they come from <BR>bilingual households<BR>--Schooling from
Grade 1 through 3 is in the Aboriginal language(Cree- <BR>medium), using the
syllabic orthographic system<BR>--Starting at Grade 3, education in
primarily oral English or French <BR>(the decision being made by the
children/their families) is <BR>introduced, at which point the roman
alphabet is also introduced<BR>--Under current assessments, children hailing
from this system <BR>generally have a deficit in literacy proficiency
at the end of their <BR>primary education (in both languages)<BR>
--Decision makers are trying to tackle the issue while at the same <BR>
time keeping an educational system that will enable the preservation
<BR>of their traditional language and culture<BR><BR>In this context,
I would appreciate it if you could point me towards <BR>documentation
that pertains to bilingual acquisition in Aboriginal <BR>contexts as
well as, perhaps from a more applied perspective, studies <BR>on
educational programs and/or their relationships with cultural <BR>
promotion and preservation.<BR><BR>Of course I will make sure to round up
the information and publish a <BR>summary on the list.<BR><BR>
Thankfully yours,<BR>Yvan Rose<BR><BR>Associate Professor<BR>Department of
Linguistics<BR>Memorial University of Newfoundland<BR><BR><BR></DIV>
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